Raucci case has some wondering if he’s the Clifton Park bomber

As new details emerged about Schenectady school official Steven C. Raucci’s alleged years-long reign of terrifying bombings and threats, many people have called the Times Union wondering if Raucci – not the suspect cops named, Christopher Gilson – might have left the package bomb that injured a child on Christmas Eve 1996.

The widow of Gilston, the man who authorities said planted a package bomb that exploded as a child opened it on Christmas Eve, continues to believe in her husband’s innocence but said Tuesday she is reluctant to accuse Steven C. Raucci, who has been charged with planting explosives in three counties.

“I would be the last person on the face of the Earth to point a finger at someone without knowing,” Mary Gilson said. “It happened to our family, and I wouldn’t want anyone to go through that.”

Christopher Gilson

State Police determined Christopher Gilson, 58, committed suicide five days after the bomb went off at the home of Jude and Mary Reardon. And his family eventually reached an out-of-court settlement on a lawsuit the Reardon’s later filed.

Saratoga County District Attorney James Murphy said nothing has changed — Gilson was the bomber — and Murphy rattled off a litany of materials found in the Gilsons’ basement — gunpowder, light switches and fishing line — used to make the bomb.